The present invention relates to methods for processing solid wood planks, and more specifically to a method for handling and processing short planks and the preparation surrounding the seasoning process in the kiln dryer thereof.
The handling of solid wood planks for commercial use is a method where the steps are traditionally well known to anyone skilled in the art. A standard fashion will require to lath the pieces, to store them temporarily (until a sufficient number is done to permit the next step to go forward), to season many planks of a standard length in a kiln dryer, then to machine and trim each individual planks before optionally decorating the planks with various moldings using a molder (spindle molding-machine).
Machining and trimming the planks after the seasoning process is long and costly, especially considering that the planks have already been lathed. But they are necessary steps because when the planks are previously disposed in the kiln dryer, they are not assembled, but just laid one beside the other. This leaves each plank an individual unit, each of them surrounded by air pockets. Those air pockets leave the extremities of each plank subject to the consequences of the seasoning process, which is the end grain checking of short wood components (twisting of and deformations at the loosen extremities of the pieces of wood that will have to be cut away and wasted). Hence, no process that will minimize end grain checking on a plurality of pieces of short wood planks is presently in place. Also, no process that will eliminate the machining and trimming steps after the kiln drying operation in the handling of planks is presently available.
Furthermore, these necessary machining and trimming steps, following a previous lathing step, all create more wood shavings (after the kiln drying operation), and in the end eliminate and waste an overall even larger volume when short wood planks are considered. No method minimizing the wasted wood volume in the manufacturing process of short planks is presently available; especially when most of that waste of woods presently occurs after the wood became expensive due to handling and more specifically due to the kiln drying step.
Basically, we are looking for a method that avoids useless kiln drying of wood not having the minimum required quality (by trimming the planks beforehand), that will produce green wood shavings rather than the standard wood shavings following a kiln-drying operation, and that will finally enable the reutilization of the green shavings such as in the production of chipboard panels. The volume of short planks used during kiln drying could therefore be increased and the volume of defaulting wood planks after kiln drying be reduced.
Finally, no prior art or method yet encourages the producers to assemble short planks during a variety of steps of the preparation of the final product. Hence, no method facilitating the handling of short plank-stocks by easily assembling them is currently used. In the same sense, no molder presently allows for automatic loading of short wood planks of varying lengths, therefore a mean allowing for such an improvement is also sought after.
It is therefore a general object of the present invention to provide a method for handling and processing short wood planks of the character described which obviates the above noted disadvantages.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for processing short wood planks that minimizes wasted wood shavings on a volume of given planks after the expensive kiln drying step and that allows for recycling of green wood shavings.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a method for processing short wood planks that minimizes end grain checking of short wood components during kiln drying.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for processing short wood planks that avoids unnecessary kiln drying of wood planks not having the required quality, thus gaining kiln space for more appropriate wood planks.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for processing short wood planks that optionally eliminates the steps of post-drying machining and trimming, eliminates overall costs, and saves production time in the handling of wood planks.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a method for processing short wood planks that facilitates the carrying, storing and handling of wood planks by assembling them together so as to have a final plank that is of a standard plank length, such as required for automatic loading into the molder.
The present invention is directed to a method for processing solid short wood planks comprising the following steps:
a) trimming said planks to a same width, said planks having two short sides along said width;
b) providing an attachment means to said short sides to firmly and releasably secure two adjacent planks together along their respective short sides;
c) assembling a plurality of said planks next to each other using said attachment means to form a row that generally appropriately fits a standard kiln dryer;
d) aligning a plurality of said rows, all of a same length, side by side to form a board that generally appropriately fits said kiln dryer, respective adjacent extremities of said rows being jointly and sealably supported by a respective edge support;
e) proceeding to a standard seasoning of said assembled board in said kiln dryer; and
f) pulling apart said planks from said assembled row by disassembling said attachment means.
Preferably, the step d) includes aligning a plurality of said rows along with solid long wood planks, all of said length, side by side to form said board, respective adjacent extremities of said rows and long planks being jointly and sealably supported by a respective edge support.
Preferably, the step d) further includes stacking of a plurality of said boards with a plurality of spacers in between each adjacent boards, all of said boards being of a same size that generally appropriately fits said kiln dryer.
Preferably, the method further includes the steps exe2x80x2) of planing down the four longest sides of each of said row and exe2x80x3) of decorating said planks with various moldings using a molder.
Preferably, the method further comprises step g) of decorating said planks with various moldings using a spindle molding-machine.
Preferably, the step b) of providing an attachment means is machining a tongue-and-groove joint on respective corresponding short sides of said adjacent short planks.
Preferably, the tongue-and-groove joint is of a generally lightly swollen squared-like cross-section shape to allow for a smooth tight easy assembling and a smooth easy disassembling of said adjacent short planks.
Preferably, the spacers are substantially elongated in shape and positioned transverse to said rows, generally parallel to and spaced apart in between said edge supports.